How do you guys see the Western Conf. playoff race going this season (assuming Warriors stay healthy) ?

Locks? I'm thinking

1. Lakers2. Thunder3. Spurs4. Grizzlies5. Clippers

The rest:

Mavs, Nuggets, Warriors, Twolves, Jazz

Good luck in the lottery:

KingsHornetsSunsRocketsBlazers

Mavs have a lot of new / haven't played together piecesTwolves were in the playoff hunt b4 Rubio went down, and got better with Ak47, Roy, etcJazz have Mo Williams running the show, but Kanter and Favors should be betterNuggets -- good depth, but I just don't know how this teams scores. I look at their roster -- Lawson / Iggy / Gallinari / Faried / McGee....it's underwhelming but they continue to win cuz they play together. I think they have overachieved under Karl. Hopefully they come back down to earth this season.

I'll take the W's starting 5 vs any of those 2nd tier teams that will be fighting for the 6 - 8 spots.

I think we'll sneak in there at the 7th or 8th spot with the Nuggets and Mavericks there towards the bottom as well.

It would definitely be disappointing if we completely miss the playoffs..it'll also be disappointing if it comes down to, say, the last 10 games and the pressure gets to us and we lose the majority of those.

Only time will tell..but on paper, we'll be there come playoff time. Health!

Lawson was the high scorer at 17ppg. What they are is fast, athletic, good D, depth, well-coached, etc.

From a scoring standpoint, I find that starting 5 of there's unimpressive. I'd like to see more teams play zone vs them.

I agree. I'm not that impressed with their bigs although I love Faried's style of basketball. I'm not convinced that McGee has established himself as a solid starter in the NBA. I will admit that he has crazy athletic ability, but he jumps at everything. I love their backcourt though. Lawson is a good PG, and if it were up to me I'd keep iggy at the 3 and let Gallinari bully other 2's in the NBA with his size.

Andre Miller - a great veteran off the bench. Probly the best back up PG in the NBA.Wilson Chanlder - an athletic wing who can play the 2 or the 3. good size, still young.. could be 6th man of the year type player.Corey Brewer - solid defender, good spot up shooter, can play the 2/3 and has playoff experience.Mozgov is an alright off the bench big, nothing really special but he's a solid backup.

all in all the Nuggets are just more versatile than us. They have shooters but they also have slashers. their bigs are young and athletic with tons of potential. i don't see how they're lower than a 6 seed.

I hear what you're saying Beast but I still think that the Warriors have a very good bench. Our 2nd team would be as good, if not better. Andre Miller is still a good player but his skills are fading whereas Jack is coming into his prime. I'd also have Rush before Chandler. Mozgov is ok but Brewer hasn't turned out to be the player that most people expected. Landry is better than Randolph - not defensively but better offensively and better overall. Miller and Chandler are the only 2 Nuggets good enough to start but we have Rush, Jack and Landry who are all capable of starting.

Nuggets are lock. We will be battling for a spot between 6-9. I did a little research and added up each players EWA's projection. We should be around a 47 win team or a 50 win team if everyon stays healthy. I put it between that because I got 47 without accounting for Harrison Barnes, so if pans out we will be sitting pretty I think.

Andre Miller - a great veteran off the bench. Probly the best back up PG in the NBA.Wilson Chanlder - an athletic wing who can play the 2 or the 3. good size, still young.. could be 6th man of the year type player.Corey Brewer - solid defender, good spot up shooter, can play the 2/3 and has playoff experience.Mozgov is an alright off the bench big, nothing really special but he's a solid backup.

all in all the Nuggets are just more versatile than us. They have shooters but they also have slashers. their bigs are young and athletic with tons of potential. i don't see how they're lower than a 6 seed.

The Nuggets didn't upgrade their bench at all; Randolph in place of Birdman is hardly a better option, they'll miss Afflalo's toughness, and the Warriors' have 4 dudes that'd start on other teams (Denver has 2). I gotta agree with 8th, Ringo, and Rocky. The Nuggets were deeper before the D12 trade. Iggy's a much better player than anything they had, but he's a 3 (where they've already got a logjam with Gallo and Wilson) and losing Afflalo and Harrington hurts their depth more than getting Iggy improves it.

I think the Nuggets will get in the top 4. They're better than the Grizz and Clips. Reckon that Lawson and Iguodala will be close to the best backcourt in the nba and if McGee, who was coached by Olajuwon in the offseason (and Hakeem said that he thinks McGee will be close to the best Center in the nba soon), reahces his potential, they're frontcourt will be a top 5 one.

The Warriors have the best team outside the top 4 teams I think, but the most question marks, as always, and they could even miss the playoffs. I'll say the team gets 7th.

1-4 = Lakers are the best team, but will coast during the regular season. The Clippers will look better with a year of CP3, the Thunder will overachieve now that everyone has picked LA above them (again), and the Spurs are too talented to drop outta top 4.

5-7 = all very equally talented teams with tough front courts and shooters up and down the lineup. The wild card with these 3 teams is health, so I stacked them from best to worst assuming everyone is healthy. Obviously, if Curry, Gallo, Chandler, Bogut, Gay, or ZBo are out for long periods, it all goes to hell.

8-10 = The Rockets are better and have 3 impressive rookies to build on, but breaking the bank for Lin and Asik was a major mistake. The Mavs biffed on BOTH Deron and D12, standing pat with an already overmatched lineup while losing Kidd and Terry. My 8th seed pick is Minnesota: Love & Rubio might be the new Nash-Amare of the league. Not a ton of depth, but talented enough.

11-13= The Jazz and Blazers will try to compete, but aside from their post-scoring centers (Alderige/Jefferson) their lineups are extremely subpar in a stacked Western Conference. The Kings have no direction, a pile of bad attitudes, and a guy who was supposed to be the #2 pick who dropped 5 spots because of some unknown flaw. We'll see why TRob got no love on draft day soon enough.

14-15 = Race to the bottom. Phoenix wants next years #1 pick and even though NO has a solid future ahead of them, OKC achieved monster success stacking lottery seasons at the bottom, which is what Cleveland is attempting in the central division.

Curry = Lawson. Lawson is far more athletic, Curry is the better shooter. I think both of them have a ton of talent. Pretty equal right now to me, Curry with the higher ceiling.

Klay < Iggy. Iggy kan guard every 2 guard in the league, but pretty limited on offence where Klay excels. Iggy contributes in a lot of differents ways which gives him the advantage.

Barnes < Gallo. Pretty obvious. From what I've seen, Barnes is a very, very good spot-up shooter with great athleticism, but Gallo has to have the advantage based on his 4 (?) years in the league with some pretty solid basket, especially in the halfcourt.

Faried < Lee. I really do like Faried who are one of my favourites in the NBA, but Lee are clearly the better player. Both of them rebound on a very high level, but based on Lee's offence and Faried's lack of it, Lee has the advantage. He is a proven top-10, at least to me.

McGee < Bogut. McGee is dum as **** and Bogut the exact opposite. I haven't seen Bogut enough to judge him, but he is clearly superior to McGee's athleticism and really nothing more.

All in all, pretty equal starting lineups. I'll give a tiny advantage to the Golden State due to Denver's lack of a stabile halfcourt offence and if all goes well in Oakland, Klay and Curry will punish the 3 point line with percentages in the mid 40's. Benchwise, once again, very equal. Jack and Miller is pretty much the same talentwise and the same goes for Brewer and Rush. Chandler is clearly better than Jefferson (the only point where i truly disagree with you, 32), Landry muuuch better than Randolph and Mozgow with a slight advantage over Festus. I like Mozgow's athleticism and big body.

- To sum it up, 2 extremely equal and quite competive teams if healthy. The only 2 teams I can't see them defeat in a possible playoff series are the Lakers and OKC. Here is how i see the West: